This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive) that we have put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all, and especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 3:9-10

Friday, July 31, 2015

The Spirit of the LORD has anointed Jesus:
“To preach good news to the poor.
To bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” Isaiah 61:1-3 (NIV)

Does Jesus make you laugh?

Have you ever thought about
what is at the root of laughter? At least with the laughter I’m talking
about, I think it springs up from joy. Joy is hard to beat—and joy is
hardly more prevalent than when we laugh. Jesus is The Joy Giver.
I love it when he gives me joy. I very much enjoy sharing his joy with
others. And I find they like it when I do. Joy is contagious, often
accompanied by this thing called laughter. Sometimes joy is reflected in
a slight grin. Sometimes it’s a chuckle. And sometimes it’s a
gut-busting belly laugh that we can’t even contain. Jesus gives us
laughter.

I experience joy when I watch Jesus in action. I
experience it when I listen to Jesus. And I particularly experience joy
when I pass along to others the joy he’s given me. What a privilege it is
to make others laugh.

I find it humorous when Jesus intervenes in an awful situation
and overrules the grief he encounters.

One of my favorites is in Luke
7. Jesus is headed into town with his disciples and a big bunch of
people. At the same time, a funeral procession with another bunch of
people is headed out to the graveyard on the edge of town. A mother limps
alongside the casket of her beloved son. Her heart is shredded to pieces
as she carries the hellish grief of her unimaginable loss. Enter
Jesus. He stops the procession and chooses to reverse the
irreversible. Young man, get up! What? Get up? You have
got to be kidding. No, he’s not. The dead boy gets up. Jesus
smiles a smile of love to the woman and gives the boy back to her. At
first there was shock. Then there was comfort. Then there was
joy—overwhelming joy provided by The Joy Giver.

That story has often made
me laugh. Stopping a funeral procession and raising the deceased.
It had to be fun for Jesus to trade the ashes of grief for the oil of
gladness. It’s philanthropy from another solar system. Forget the
brand-new gift car. Forget the gift house. We’re talking dreaming
the unimaginable, getting back our dead. A resurrection. Replacing
grief with joy. And this is just the beginning for those of us who
believe. Go Jesus!

I hate it when the bully Pharisees push people around, tie
them up with legalistic chains, and arrogantly tower over them in the misery
they have caused. I love it when Jesus shows up and comes between the
oppressor and the oppressed. He’s mad at The Joy Robbers. Really
mad. Just read the stories. He’s sick and tired of the liars who
pretend that they’re hot stuff when they are stinky in their souls.
That’s what he says about them. He calls them white-washed tombs.
Tombs are really smelly. Just ask Martha and Lazarus. And Jesus is
sick of the stench that the Pharisees spread around the neighborhood. He
kicks some tail and leaves them scattered as the crowds cheer him on. Go
Jesus! Get rid of those scoundrels! The people laugh as Jesus
manhandles their oppressors, confounds them, and tells them their daddy is the
devil.

No wonder they wanted to kill him. No wonder they
did. Small wonder. God raised him from the dead. The
Kill-Joys killed him. The Joy Giver comes back and terrorizes the
killers. Actually, he forgives them. But they can hardly believe
it. They find it exceedingly hard to receive joy because they are so
reluctant for anyone else to have it. Not Jesus. He’s determined to
dispense joy.

I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of Jesus’ humor.
He had a way of wielding a sword that sliced into the hearts of oppressors—and
at the same time hit the funny bone of the oppressed. He said the
Pharisees were swallowing camels even as they carefully avoided slurping down
the mosquitoes. That’s funny imagery. Even a big glass of milk
won’t help get a camel that down the shoot. Jesus said the bullies had
big logs sticking out of their eyes while they walked around poking at the dust
in the eyes of others. What a humorous image. Jesus was pretty
picturesque. With his words he drew funny cartoons that told sharp
truths. He smashed social strongholds with his humor, much to the joy of
the underdogs. To the top dogs, Jesus’ humor wasn’t funny. It was
devastating.

Look at some of the pointed things he said to illustrate a
truth:

The
blind leading the blind.

Giving
snakes to kids instead of bread.

Giving
your underwear away after they take your outerwear.

Being
born a second time.

Chopping
off your hand.

Plucking
out your eye.

His humor was rather serious.

And for the rich guys that scoffed at the starving people all
around them, he had really bad news. Before they were going to get into
heaven they were going to have to squish a camel through a needle’s eye.

And, no, it’s not a Jerusalem gate so short that camels were forced to
scrunch down in order to get through. That wouldn’t be
impossible. And Jesus was talking about the impossible.

They asked, “Jesus, you don’t think you are greater than
Abraham, do you?”

“Yes, I do. Actually, I think I’m God.” Go Jesus!
Thanks for confounding the rude, the proud and the hateful. Thanks for
chasing away our oppressors and turning our mourning into laughter.

Do you dispense joy in your ministry? Do you let The
Joy Giver use your smile and your words and your hands to pass along
his joy?

A
knowing twinkle in the eye when someone wonders if anything is bigger than
their problem.

A
confident word of faith to the one crushed by despair.

A
comforting touch or tickle that finds the spot that brings a smile and
laughter.

Dispensing joy is fun! Sure, we can’t do it all the
time—but we ought to do it as often as we can. Jesus is in the joy
business, and he invites us to be distributors of this hot commodity. He
wants us to feed the five thousand and enjoy that chatter and wonder as the
crowd rejoices in the abundance of mysterious food.

Do you spread joy in your preaching? Do you follow up
your confrontations of sin with the unbridled grace of joyous
forgiveness? I’m not talking feigned joy conjured up by a misplaced joke
at the beginning of a sermon (though a well-placed one can have quite an
effect). I’m talking about the “second” fruit of the Spirit flowing from
a heart filled with God himself. In his presence there is joy! He
insists on it. He provides it. We enjoy it. Don’t you like to
pass it along, too?

We are gospel preachers. The gospel is about
laughter. Good news, remember? It’s about shattering chains.
It’s about pardoning the condemned. It’s about feasting on the generosity
of God. All to his glory and for his pleasure—and ours. The gospel
is about pointing a finger straight into the chest of death and declaring, “You are
going to die!” Now that’s worth laughing about.

Ron Forseth is
Editor-at-Large for SermonCentral.com and ChurchLeaders.com. He studied for two
years with Wycliffe Bible Translators and has a passion to share Christ and see
all people groups of the world reached with the Gospel. He served for several
years as a college pastor in Colorado and in Christian service for most of the
1990s in China and Mongolia. He is Vice President of Outreach, Inc, an
organization dedicated to inviting and connecting every person in America to a
Bible-believing church so that they might have a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. Ron lives with his wife Carol in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

If you are human, you have secret fears. I don’t mean
ones like fear of snakes or fear of heights, but deeper ones.

You may have
never verbalized them to anyone.

Perhaps they have burrowed themselves deep
into your subconscious. Perhaps they’ve become like a shadow that dogs your
every step.

Perhaps they’re no big deal. However you’d classify yours, I
believe we all carry them. And pastors deal with them as well.
Although I’ve not based my list below on science or surveys, I
believe they capture several fears pastors often face.

I often sat in the studies of both small-church
pastors and megachurch pastors, listening to their stories, their hopes, their
plans for significance. I deduced, albeit unscientifically, that often
clergymen in midlife had worse crises of limits than did other professionals.
Religious professionals went into the ministry for the significance, to make an
impact, called by God to make a difference with their lives. But when you’re 53
and serving a congregation of 250, you know, finally, you’ll never achieve the
large-church immortality symbol, the glory that was promised to you. That can
be a dark moment—or a dark couple of years. (Kindle e-book loc
1919)

2. What if I really mess up?

One of the rising stars in the Baptist world in the ’80s and
’90s in the U.S., Joel Gregory, rose to what was then the pinnacle of the
Baptist world to pastor First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, and succeed W.A.
Criswell. However, two years later, he resigned, his marriage failed and he
sold cemetery plots to make a living. His remarkable journey (nicely chronicled here),
however, led him to a place of redemption and he is now a respected preaching
professor at Baylor.

3. What if people leave my church because
they are upset?

I know of no pastor who has ever led a church where 100
percent of the people stayed. Some leave for good reasons. Some don’t. And
often the pastor is the last one to hear they left. When that happens, it
hurts, notwithstanding the good feelings that come from ‘blessed
subtractions.’

4. What if I can’t make the people happy?

In my third book (People
Pleasing Pastors: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Approval Motivated Leadership),
I surveyed over 2,000 pastors and discovered that from 79-91 percent of
pastors self-admitted that people pleasing affected their ministry to some
extent. This common temptation is even wired into our brains. Social
rejection lights up the same regions of the brain that physical pain does, so
when we know someone is not pleased with our performance, it actually hurts.

5. What if the people really knew my
deepest struggles?

Acceptable struggles like overwork or eating too much usually
don’t affect the church people see you. But what about pastors who
struggle with secret jealousies of more successful pastors, lust or feeling
that they often ‘fake it’ on Sundays. If the people knew their deepest
struggles, what would they think? What would their boards think? What
would those who hold them in high regard think?

The Bible says we are broken people. That’s what makes grace
so good. God extends his unmerited love and mercy to us to restore, remake
and remold us. Salvation freed us from the penalty of sin. His Spirit is
freeing us from the power of sin. Yet, it won’t be until heaven until we are
freed from the very presence of sins, including our deepest fears.

Perhaps we should admit our deepest fears to the Lord and to a
close, safe friend who can help us face them and conquer them with the Spirit’s
power. In this post you can learn what to look for in a safe friend.

What would you add to this list?

Dr. Charles Stone is Lead Pastor at West Park Church in
London, Ontario, Canada, and the founder of StoneWell Ministries, a pastor
coaching and church consulting ministry. He is the author of four books
including, "People Pleasing Pastors: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Approval
Motivated Leadership" (IVP 2014), and his forthcoming book, “Brain-Savvy
Leaders: The Science of Significant Ministry” (Abingdon, May 2015).

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Over 25 years ago I took a month to read through the book of
Jeremiah.

Two verses stood out to me then that have continued to produce
spiritual growth in my life.

The two verses are:

Jeremiah 24:7

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the
Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to
me with all their heart.

I realized that God had promised the people they could have a
heart to know Him. Therefore, the God who never changes has also promised me I
can have a heart to know Him, not just know about Him, but really get to know
Him personally. I began praying that God would give me that kind of heart.

A few days later, I read this verse:

Jeremiah 32:39

I will give them singleness of heart and action,
so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their
children after them.

God also promised His people that not only could they know Him
intimately, but also He would help them carry out that heart in the things they
did. They wouldn’t simply believe a truth; they would actually begin to live
truth. Again, I realized God would do the same for me. I began praying that God
would give me “singleness of heart and action.”

Praying the truths of these two verses became a pattern for my
life over the next year. Looking back, I can see how God did just as He
promised. I continue to make mistakes and I consistently need to go back to
these principles, but God truly has given me a heart that desires to know him
and more and more I am beginning to see myself live out the truth I believe.

What verses have worked that way in your heart?

Do you need to pray God would work these verses for truth in
your life?

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

I am NOT a runner! When I was in my 20’s I used to meet a good friend who attended the
church where I served as Minister of Youth and Music.He was also a local Air Force Recruiter.He was in great shape and was an avid
runner.He invited me to join him three
days a week in the early morning for a mile run at a local track around the
football field at a nearby school.

I was
faithful for 6 months to this endeavor but grew tired of coming home and being
sick on my stomach each morning we ran. I thought I would leave that behind –
but never did. I hate to run!Sometimes
now my knees “crunch” when I walk up stairs.

But I have become an avid walker
and work to meet my Fitbit goals each week.

I have come to the conclusion that it’s a necessary discipline
for a healthy leader. If you aren’t currently an active exerciser, I have even
more practical, firsthand experience to encourage you to begin.

Here are 7 reasons I need to exercise:

Forced down time – I discovered that when
I exercise — is one of the few times each day where I am not answering emails,
taking phone calls, or doing something that requires mental power. Exercise
forces me to be still — or — well, you know what I mean. My mind is cleared to
pray more — to think more.

Physical health – I am better able
to maintain my weight when I walk. I
feel better. I sleep better. My blood pressure tests lower. The doctor’s office
loves taking my vitals when I am in a regular exercise routine.

Mental stimulation –
My best ideas come while I am walking. I suppose because my body is energized
and I’m free from other distractions, I’m so creative while I exercise.

Longevity – Long days are nothing for
me when I am in a healthy discipline. It seems counter-intuitive, but I have
more energy in the day — not less — when I’m exercising regularly.

Maximum effectiveness –
Exercise — while it seems to take time out of my day — actually ends up being
the most effective use of my time. It increases my productivity and gives me a
better overall attitude towards my work (and life). It’s powerful enough — I’ve
learned from experience — that on my busiest days I try to break away and
exercise in the middle of the day. The fastest way for me to get out of a
productivity slump is to step away from the “work” and go for a short (or long) walk around the church.

Eat with less worry – I
enjoy food. A lot. People will often make a comment I must not enjoy food as
much as they do because I seem to maintain my weight. The reality is they’ve
never seen me eat. I don’t think you can totally ignore your diet regardless of
how much you exercise. I try to be healthier in most of my choices, and I do
discipline what I eat (wish I was better at how much), but I pretty much eat
what I want. I’m certainly never hungry long. Walking affords me less guilt in my diet and the
occasional splurges I enjoy.

Stress reduction – I find if I’m
especially stressed a good sweat gives me a calmer perspective. It’s an
excellent way to decompress.

I’m not an avid runner or exercise “nut”. I sometimes wonder if I will ever take part
in a Marathon – right now I think not.
But each month I feel stronger and work hard toward my weight goal and walking
routine. By the way – My wife Sharron is a true role model for me. She is very consistent in her walking and
often puts me to shame.

Do you have a regular routine of exercise?

It
doesn’t have to be running, or even walking, but it should be something. Of
course, you should always check with your doctor before you start something
extreme, but I’ve never had a doctor who didn’t value some form of exercise.

If you are not regularly exercising — especially if you’re a
leader — answer this question:

Considering the stress in your life, and how productive you
hope to be with your life, could beginning the discipline of exercise be one of
the missing ingredients?

Let me be a voice of encouragement to you. Find the exercise
routine which works best for you, discipline yourself for 30-40 days, and then
enjoy the lifetime of benefits.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Yesterday, I began a new Teaching series on the Ten Commandments.Why is the Law so important for us today?

I need to be very clear on this truth, Jesus paid every
debt of the law.

Read Romans, Galatians, and even Jesus own words in
Matthew 5:17. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the law, He came to meet
its righteous demands, which we could never meet on our own. Still, the law
today has value in showing us the things God values, how we don’t measure up,
and our desperate need for His grace. The law is a good reminder of the things
that matter most to God. As I share this series, I’m thanking God for His
grace.

Commandment
One:

You
shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:3 NIV

Is there anything in your life that has come between you
and your relationship with God? I apologize if I am stepping on some toes, but
this is a fair question. No, I’m not asking if you use an Ouija board to
predict and plan your life. I’m not wondering if you worship your car or bow
down to your TV.

I’m asking if there is anything or anyone you put in front
of your personal, intimate relationship with the only one and true God of the
Bible. Still looking at me with a puzzled look? Let me share a few examples:

Would you rather be late for work or late to church?

Are
you more likely to skip your favorite TV show or your morning devotion?

Have
you ever given up a meal to spend urgently needed time in prayer?

Who do you
say “good morning” to first each day?

What does your checkbook say about your
devotion to God?

Is the first thing you grab with your coffee a newspaper or a
copy of the precious word of God?

To whom would your children (or your spouse)
say you are the most devoted?

Are you insulted more by the use of the Lord’s
name in vain, or an insult of your alma mater?

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

I hope you have some steel-toed shoes on
today! Mine are going to need a good soaking tonight! Remember, Jesus took the
Ten Commandments to a higher level. Anything between you and God, anything that
keeps you from your fervent, passionate, constant devotion to Him, is breaking
that first commandment.

You can rejoice with me that He offers forgiveness, but
let’s start today to obey His perfect word! Let’s put Him first! Let’s let Him
be supreme in our life!

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Series: The Ten Commandments Set Free to Live FreePart 1: No Other gods.... Exodus 20:1-3

INTRO: Today, we begin an exciting new teaching
series. Beginning today and planning to
conclude on October 4th we will examine the message and meanings of
the Ten Commandments. We begin with some
background:

We’ll begin in Exodus 14 – The children of God have been in
slavery for over 400 years. God delivers
them and Moses leads them out of Egypt and we read in the last verse of

Exodus 14:31 “The people were in reverent awe
before God and trusted in God and his servant Moses.”

3 DAYS
LATER - They are complaining:

Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the
Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without
finding any water. They got to Marah, but they couldn’t drink the water at
Marah; it was bitter. That’s why they called the place Marah (Bitter). And the
people complained to Moses, “So what
are we supposed to drink?” Exodus 15:22

6
WEEKS LATER – They are complaining:

The whole company of
Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. Exodus 16:1

I am stunned every time I read the story of the Exodus. How
can the people of Israel complain like they do? How could they be so ignorant,
so stupid, so forgetful?

The God of the universe had just tossed around the most
powerful man on the face of the earth like a toddler with a rag doll. God
didn’t just humble Pharaoh; he broke his spirit and revealed Pharaoh’s
impotence.

A slave people and their God left him and his nation in
shambles. This display of power sent vibrations throughout the world, inspiring
fear and awe.

Yet Israel’s response to this spectacular deliverance from
Egypt is not mainly praise, worship,
and whole-hearted trust. Instead, Israel responds with grumbling—
complaining, murmuring, quarreling. “No water, Moses! Where’s the beef, Moses?
I have blisters on my feet, Moses. Who died and made you boss? Are we there
yet, Moses?” Spiritual amnesia set in quickly and covered the eyes of Israel’s
hearts. So soon had they forgotten God’s gracious and miraculous deliverance!

This spiritual amnesia — forgetting God’s deliverance and
provision — is a deadly disease. The people of Israel, on the heels of
unthinkable miracles, with their pockets full of Egyptian jewelry, grumble at
their less-than-five-star accommodations in the desert. This wasn’t just
headache-induced grumbling or low-blood-sugar complaining. This was faithlessness. It is the heart
that says, “I know better than God. If only he would follow myplan.”

Another
name for this teaching series could be:

10
EFFECTIVE WAYS TO LIVE A LIFE OF WORSHIP!

But
the title is more than THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
- includes – SET FREE TO LIVE FREE!

HOW
CAN I KEEP THE LAW?

How do
people today respond to the 10 Commandments?

(4 ways)

1. REBEL
against God

You brag about the law. But when you break it, you
rob God of his honor! Romans 2:23

2.CONDEMNATION

There istherefore now no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus,who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit.For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)

3. LEGALISM

The written law was made weak by the power of sin.
But God did what the written law could not do. He made his Son to be like those
who live under the power of sin. God sent him to be an offering for sin. Jesus
suffered God’s judgment against our sin. Romans 8:3

4. GRACE

Jesus does for us
everything the holy law requires. The power of sin should no longer control the
way we live. The Holy Spirit should control the way we live. Romans 8:4

Mt. Sinai – Our need for a Savior

Mt. Calvary – The need fulfilled.

“Law-keeping is that life for
which we were fitted by nature, unfitted by sin, and refitted by grace, the
life God loves to see and reward; and for that life liberty is
the proper name.” J. I. Packer

“For its growth, a fish is limited to water, its proper
element. Similarly, people are free- like a fish in water and a bird in the
air- only when they listen (and keep) to God’s law.” J Dumna

This of course is impossible apart from God's grace, but
that is no fault of the Law. The Law promises us freedom--the kind of freedom
that God enjoys in His holy Self; the kind of freedom that a fish enjoys
darting through water, and a bird enjoys soaring through the air--but it cannot
but condemn us in our sinful nature and acts!

“Is the law, then,
against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.” Galatians 3:21

The Law is righteous, and in our sinful weakness it leads
us to the soul-satisfying emancipator of our souls, Jesus Christ, and through
Him we find the will, desire, and ability to keep the Law in the power of the
Holy Spirit! Through the Grace of God, the Law of God opens for us a field
of freedom for the joy and gladness of our souls!

Bill Hybels writes: “The Lord tells us specifically
that His commands are never burdensome. By this, He doesn’t necessarily mean
they’re easy to keep. Rather, He’s telling us that they’re never foolish. They
are never unnecessary or purely arbitrary. He doesn’t force us to observe
meaningless formalities, nor does He impose rules that have no value. On the
contrary, every guideline, every law, every imperative in the Bible was crafted
in infinite wisdom. They were given not only to honor God, but to benefit us as
well.”

In Jeremiah 29:11 God says to you and me, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm
you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

When Moses climbed Mt. Sinai

The
First Command:

And God spoke all these words, saying:

“I am the Lord your
God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. “You
shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 20:1-3 (NKJV)

Our response:

“You are worthy, our Lord and God!
You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power.
You are worthy because you created all things.
They were created and they exist.
This is the way you planned it.” Revelation 4:11

Saturday, July 25, 2015

I am truly looking forward
to this coming Sunday at North Raleigh Church of the Nazarene. I anticipate several families who have been
away to return this Sunday and that our church family will take advantage of
the opportunity to invite friends and neighbors this Sunday as we begin a new
Teaching Series: The 10 Commandments –
Set Free to Live Free.

Here is the order of worship we have prepared for tomorrow. As you sing these songs in preparation for worship - I pray yo sense the moving of the Holy Spirit!

We begin our time together by focusing our attention upon the Creator God of the Universe who deserves our praise and worship this day. We leave the cares of the world behind and focus upon the Presence of God!

Last week we gathered around the altars to pray for a much beloved charter member of our church - Harold Wetzel. Today we celebrate answers to prayer and call upon God for the needs we present to Him today!

Over the past 4 consecutive Sundays our offerings have been below the need to meet our current budget. On this final Sunday of July - I hope several will prepare a special gift for the church to help bring our deficit to an end. God is faithful if we simply follow the creed we place upon our money: "In God We Trust! We honor the Lord in song as we present His tithe and our offering to Him!

Friday, July 24, 2015

“Only the one who follows the command of Jesus
single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets his yoke rest upon him, finds his
burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in
the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who
try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the
burden is light.”

Thursday, July 23, 2015

1. We reap what we sow.
You can’t sow hatred and reap love.
You can’t sow unbelief and reap faith.
You can’t sow bitterness and reap forgiveness.
You can’t sow selfishness and reap friendship.

2. Sometimes, we reap what others have sown.
Somebody paid the price for the things we enjoy and often take for granted.
We have electric lights because Thomas Edison worked through the night.

Our family values and traditions were passed along from our
parents and grandparents.

Every building was constructed at a price. Somebody was
willing to pay it.

3. Occasionally, we reap the painful consequences from what others have
sown.

A choice to drive drunk can shatter a stranger’s family.
A dishonest employee can bring great dishonor to the business owner.
An abusive parent can damage and harm the child for life.
A thief can leave the victim penniless.

4. We reap more than we sow.
The mighty oak is just a little nut that held his ground.
Small, daily investments bring a tremendous harvest in the end.
One seed, planted in good soil, produces a thousand seeds.
One good deed planted in God’s love, produces a thousand deeds.

5. It usually takes a while between the sowing and the reaping.

There is no such thing as instant success. It takes a lifetime.
Patience is virtue. Do not be weary in well doing.
Sooner or later, what you do will catch up to you – both good and bad.
If at first you don’t see results, remember that the first growth is
underground.

6. The more we sow, the more we grow.
Don’t just sow a little bit and quit.
Keep on sowing and you’ll keep on reaping!
Sow in the unexpected places, and you will discover unexpected results.
It’s never too early or too late to start sowing.

Rick and Sharron Hudgens

About Me

I am privileged to be a servant of the Lord God Almighty on High. God has blessed me with a beautiful wife, Sharron, two twin daughters, Danielle and Stephanie, a great son-in-law, Josh (married to Stephanie), and my first granddaughter, Alyse Nicole. In October 2009 Danielle married Jessie Bolder and we welcome Jessie and our new grand daughter Jayden into our family. On April 16, 2010 Danielle gave birth to Jordan Richard Bolder - our first grand son. A few weeks later on May 7th Stephanie gave birth to Breeley May. The latest update is the our daughter Stephanie gave birth to Cammie Lynley on July 12, 2013. Sharron and I are blessed people.